Sure, it’s hot now, but Peta Roby used to te ll people she was a dancer, leaving out the “ballroom” part.

Roby, and her former dance partner of 34 years, Jason Gilkison, are the creators of “FloorPlay,” billed as a lively blend of samba, salsa, waltz, tango, swing and jive. They also are the show’s producers along with Harley Medcalf. The show is performed at the Eldorado Hotel Casino.

“I grew up through an era that never mentioned ballroom dancing. It was something that only your grandparents did,” said Australian native Roby in a recent phone interview.

“Now, with TV shows like ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ and ‘Dancing with the Stars,’ people know what ballroom is, and it’s quite a funky thing today,” she said.

Although she doesn’t get much of a chance to watch TV shows like that because of all the touring, she’s grateful for them.

“I like that they use stars to catch the public’s attention and then show them blundering through things at first but then doing it in the end because it opens up the scope of people who can do it — from children to grandmothers,” she said.

From 1981 to 1997, Roby remained the undefeated Australian Latin American champion, progressing through her junior, amateur and professional careers. Other titles include British youth, amateur and rising star professional Latin titles, World Ten Dance, World Cup, International and a U.S. Amateur Latin American championship.

In 1997, she retired from competitive dancing, after achieving Grand Finalist status in all international professional Latin American events.

“FloorPlay” is built on Roby and Gilkison’s experiences.

Roby is the company manager for the show, and Gilkison is the choreographer and artistic director for the company performing at the Eldorado. The show is the second of the Burn the Floor Ltd. flagship company’s productions. Originally called “Jason Gilkison’s Ballroom,” the show was renamed “FloorPlay” in 2005.

“Jason has been writing this show for a long time, and a lot of it is our history and a combination of the eras that ballroom has gone through,” Roby said.

“It shows the traditional art form with a modern edge.”

She said she misses her days as a lead dancer, but she is happy with her life now.

“I’m lucky enough that I can dance with them in rehearsals and in warm-ups, and I really do get a lot of pleasure watching this cast. They’re such a wonderful group who have so much passion for dance, and that includes the percussionists and vocalists,” she said.

Dancers Rebecca and Damon Sugden have been with the company since 1999. The only Australians to win the Youth Ballroom at the International Championships in London, the couple often gets asked by their friends and family back home when they’re coming back for good.

“We’re having so much fun that it’s hard to think about ever going home,” Rebecca Sugden said in a phone interview the day before the show opened in Reno. “I know you’re going to think this is corny, but I think it is so beautiful to get to dance with my husband and look into his eyes every night.”

She doesn’t get too look very long, as the show’s fast pace keeps all of the dancers whizzing though the 18 numbers that include the cha cha, samba, rumba, salsa, tango, quickstep, swing, Lindy, jive, disco and a dramatic paso doble complete with cape, matador and a finish that had the audience cheering loudly on opening night.

The high-energy show is full of little vignettes between passionate couples.

“Jason was very clever to keep the personalities of the dancers,” Roby said. “You can see a multitude of different stories within the show — depending on where you sit, you could see something different every time.”

The main thread woven through the production is the total focus shown by the dancers in every number.

“It’s what the audiences love, that bond between the couples, the trust that must be there,” Roby said.

For Rebecca Sugden, it’s all about trust.

“We do a lot of lift work, and Damon is 6 feet, 4 inches tall. I have to trust that he is not going to drop me,” she said.

In one of the show’s most unusual numbers, dancer Jessica Raffa is blindfolded and is led through the rumba by three male dancers. It’s a dramatic demonstration of what ballroom dancing is all about, Roby said.

“One of the interesting things about ballroom dance is the partnering skills, and even people who have grown up learning jazz, modern ballet and tap — however good they are — that partnering skill is a bit of select information,” Roby said.

“While the woman ‘does the miles,’ and the man is fairly stationary, he has to keep thinking ahead, he’s the decision maker and the woman has to react to that and, in essence, go in ‘blind.’”

Percussionists Giorgio Rojas and Henry Soriano and vocalists Esther Hannaford and Kieron Kulik keep the action flowing.

Kulik, another Australian, graduated from Sydney’s Brent Street, a performing arts school, in 1997. Primarily a vocalist, he does get to do a bit of dance in “FloorPlay.”

“I’ve been tap dancing since I was about 3, and while back then it was mostly just plain annoying to my parents, they did recognize I had talent,” he said with a laugh.

An original member of the tap group Rhythm on Tap, Kulik’s musical theater credits include “Grease” and the Australian tour of “Mama Mia.”

Songs for this show include numbers in Portuguese and Spanish, something he found a little difficult at first.

“You know, Australian slang isn’t as fluid as those languages, and it was hard,” he said. “For the first year I just learned everything phonetically and so I didn’t know what I was singing, but it’s a bit easier now that I know what the songs mean.”

Zoe Rose is a freelance writer.